Britain’s Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, has only been in power for the past 5 months, yet already has made its mark on foreign affairs – chastising Israel, coddling China, and centering climate change in all things. The through line in these submissive gestures and policies is that Labour sees Britain’s legacy as a geopolitical heavyweight as something to be discarded instead of embraced. In this view, asserting British power abroad, even in defense of its own national interests, is verboten. Peace, harmony, and comity must come at any price so as to make up for the supposed evils of the UK’s history and move Britain firmly into a progressive geopolitical direction. Of course, this impacts American national security as well. 

It has not taken long for the new Labour government to begin ceding Britain’s role on the international stage. On October 3, the Labour government announced that, in Foreign Minister David Lammy’s words, “the UK has reached an agreement with Mauritius, securing the vital military base on Diego Garcia,” to “protect international security, close a potential illegal migration route, and avert threats to peace and prosperity in the Indian Ocean.”  

The deal revolves around the Chagos Archipelago (also known as the British Indian Ocean Territory, or BIOT), a largely desolate and depopulated island chain lying in the center of the Indian Ocean, thousands of miles from the nearest landmass. One of the atolls in the archipelago, Diego Garcia, has been a critical military base for the United States since the Cold War, operated under British sovereignty. Diego Garcia’s location has allowed America to project power across a wide variety of key theaters, including serving as a major airbase during the Global War on Terror. The facilities on the atoll include an airstrip that can serve strategic bombers – one of two in the Indo-Pacific, alongside Guam – a deep-water naval port, and sites for highly-specialized intelligence collection. Suffice it to say, Diego Garcia is incredibly important for American national security, particularly in a century during which the Indo-Pacific will be the hinge point of geopolitics. 

Under the deal Labour cut with the government of Mauritius, a nation composed of an archipelago hundreds of miles east of Madagascar and over a thousand miles west of the Chagos, the entirety of the BIOT, Diego Garcia included, will be ceded to Mauritian sovereignty. Mauritius has no legitimate claim to the Chagos, its only connection to the islands being that Mauritius and the Chagos were categorized under the same colonial department under the British Empire. The British government has stated that this cession will ensure the long-term security of the American military infrastructure, but this is highly doubtful. Apparently, the Biden administration “strongly supported” this decision, an inexplicable choice if one is tasked with promoting the American national interest. From a geopolitical perspective, the ceding of the Chagos to Mauritius is totally indefensible as a key part of America, and the West’s, apparatus of force-projection.  

It’s hard to believe that Diego Garcia will remain secure as a critical part of American national security architecture owing to the increasing involvement of the Mauritian regime with the Chinese Communist Party. Over the past several years, the island nation has moved ever closer to China as part of the Belt and Road Initiative, engaging in free trade agreements, joint infrastructure projects, and increasing military and policing ties. Beijing has become the favored partner for the island nation, replacing India and Britain. Now, with Mauritius being granted control over the Chagos, including Diego Garcia, these ties have become far more dangerous for American security. Nothing would stop Mauritius from allowing China to build its own intelligence-gathering facilities or military bases in the archipelago, perfectly placed to spy on or disrupt American activities in one of our most crucial security installations. The Indo-Pacific is the key theater for 21^st century geopolitics and China is our primary enemy; the ill-considered Labour surrender directly hurts our national interests. 

America is always ill-served when our closest allies – not to mention the other half of the Anglo-American “special relationship” – are determined to self-immolate on the altar of progressive foreign policy. Ceding the Chagos Islands to Mauritius seems designed to serve a two-fold purpose of being an exercise in humiliation which also profoundly endangers American and Western interests and security. The deal should not be allowed to stand. Washington should heavily pressure London to renege on this agreement, promising diplomatic cover and support in international institutions. Regardless of whether Labour follows through, we must take the security of Diego Garcia into our own hands. That means increasing maritime and aerial patrols, hardening the military and intelligence infrastructure against outsider attack or espionage, and creating a large perimeter around the base in which non-allied nations should not be allowed to operate. Chinese-linked facilities must be opposed, regardless of what the Mauritian government thinks. And, if push comes to shove, America should be willing and ready to hold onto Diego Garcia by force. 

None of these moves would be necessary had the British government not fully embraced progressive foreign policy and surrendered its rightful sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago. And this is only the beginning. Lammy, Starmer, and their ilk have held office for less than 6 months. The next several years could be utterly disastrous. America should make plans for our national security that do not rely on London. And that is a sad reality for a truly special relationship.